The invention relates to variable-ratio angular speed converters, such as speed-changeable gearing.
One known type of arrangement for effecting an adjustable angular speed ratio between input and output shafts is described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,662,417, issued to A. Mascherpa on Dec. 15, 1953. In this scheme, a selector gear disposed on an auxiliary shaft is in constant engagement with a drive gear on the input shaft. The selector gear is pivotable toward and away from a single tapered gear cluster on the output shaft, and is laterally movable along the cluster. By continually rotating a lever-associated knob in a fixed direction, the selector gear is successively (1) pivoted out of engagement with a first gear of the cluster representative of a first speed setting of the arrangement, (2) moved laterally along the cluster to a point opposite a second gear of the cluster representative of a second speed setting of the arrangement, and (3) pivoted into engagement with such second gear to establish such second speed setting.
It is apparent that such arrangement, given a sufficiently large number of gears on the single cluster, can be adjusted to a wide range of speeds on the output shaft. However, it is not adapted to provide an invariant relation between any particular speed setting on the output shaft and the adjacent setting.